Dixon’s latest miss may hurt most
Driver wanted name next to close friend on Indy 500 trophy. Instead, he finishes 2nd to his teammate again.
Scott Dixon INDIANAPOLIS — crossed the finish line behind Dario Franchitti. Again.
Still, there he was, visiting Franchitti in Victory Lane, attending the postrace party and paying tribute to his teammate in his speech at the Indianapolis 500 banquet.
Dixon is a great teammate and a better friend. But this latest defeat stung, and it was obvious to anyone who knows “Dixie” well.
“He’s fiercely competitive,” Franchitti said. “I said that to him, when we are in the car, I want to beat these guys so badly because we are competitors out there, even if they are teammates. But then I saw him after, and I just felt, ‘That’s my buddy there.’ But the thing with Scott is it just motivates him to work harder and push harder.”
A win by any driver at Chip Ganassi Racing is a win for the entire organization. But on Sunday, in the celebration of Franchitti’s third Indy 500 win, there was also some sadness for Dixon. He led 44 laps and swapped the lead with Franchitti 10 times over the final 60 laps as the two red Target cars set themselves up for what should have been a race between teammates to the finish line. But with two laps to go, Franchitti moved back into the lead and pulled Takuma Sato with him. Sato slid past Dixon, splitting the teammates and dropping Dixon to third.
As they took the white flag, Sato made his move for the lead entering the first turn. Dixon, watching it unfold, still thought he had a chance.
“We had good speed to come back and maybe pick them off on the last lap,” Dixon said.
But when Sato wrecked on his attempt to pass Franchitti, IndyCar brought out the yellow flag and the field was frozen. There was no racing to the finish for Dixon. He was stuck in second, the same spot he was in in 2007 when Franchitti won his first Indy 500, also under caution.
This one was different, though, for many reasons.
The race was a tribute to Dan Wheldon, who won the 2011 Indy 500 but was killed in a fatal accident in the IndyCar season finale last fall.
In the outpouring of support for Wheldon’s wife and two young sons, it was Dixon who stood above all, temporarily relocating his own family to St. Petersburg, Fla., to pitch in however they were needed.
So it was fitting that the final finishing order was Franchitti, Dixon then Tony Kanaan — Wheldon’s three closest friends in the series, and the only nonfamily members to serve as pallbearers at his funeral. But there was a sense of unfairness that Dixon has been denied the chance to put his face next to Wheldon’s on the Borg-Warner trophy.
“Aside from the Dan factor, I think everybody, whoever comes here, it’s the marquee event, the big event, you’re going to do anything to put your face on the Borg-Warner,” he said. “I think a lot of us that were close to Dan, you know, you wanted it that little bit more. I guess maybe in the back of your mind you figured he would probably help you out. I think in that situation, seeing how it lined up with the top three, three of Dan’s friends, it was a tough one.
“But I think tragedy aside, we would come here the same way, same mind-set. It just added a lot to it. I think it would probably feel a little bit more special having won right after Dan.”
Dixon didn’t say so, but a secondary sting could have come from simply finishing behind Franchitti again.
A two-time series champion and winner of 27 races — including the 2008 Indy 500 — Dixon has been stymied since Franchitti returned to the series after trying NASCAR in 2008. Dixon has won 10 races since Franchitti returned to IndyCar — as his teammate at Ganassi, no less — but no championships.